Kick Off: Vancouver star calls Sounders "nothing special"

It will go down as one of the most entertaining matches of the season, but the thrilling 2-2 draw between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Seattle Sounders will be remembered for much more, courtesy of Davide Chiumiento.

The Whitecaps playmaker felt his team’s performance (watch the highlights here) exposed the Sounders: “They are a good team," he told The Province of Seattle, "but, really, players on this team, they think they are better than everybody and, personally, I think they have a couple of good guys, but nothing special.”

Sporting Kansas City’s Graham Zusi left a lasting impression in January camp, according to Klinsmann. In fact, “Zeus” was aware for some time already that he’d be getting the nod: “I had known for a couple weeks now, but it had been kept pretty secretive,” he said. “I’ve known since the week after the Montreal game.”

One player who is back after a relatively long absence is LA Galaxy captain Landon Donovan. In this interview with FIFA.com, Donovan dispels any rumor that there may be any division between him and Klinsmann: “Jurgen’s very adamant about pushing us, even to the point of getting out of your comfort zone and I think it’s done wonders for a lot of our guys so far. It was a little slow to take hold early on, but I think guys are started to adapt now.”

It didn’t go well for Donovan and the Galaxy this weekend. A combination of a SuperClasico loss to Chivas USA (watch the highlights) and a win by the Portland Timbers on Sunday dropped the defending champs into last place in the Western Conference. And although NFL legend Bill Parcells says, “You’re as good as your record says,” LA manager Bruce Arena doesn’t buy it: “Our record is probably not real precise in terms of how we've played. I think we've played better than our record indicates.”

Chivas USA received a boost from newly acquired Juan Agudelo and Danny Califf, who both started in the Goats’ first win over the Galaxy since 2007. Agudelo feels that fans will be hearing more from his pairing with Colombian forward José Erik Correa, who converted the winning PK: “We're both Colombian, so we speak Spanish to each other, and I think that connection of South America is working.”

The Portland Timbers ended a four-game scoring drought with an Eric Brunner goal and then used a decisive own-goal to beat the Chicago Fire and move out of the Western Conference basement (watch the highlights here).

If you’re keeping count, it’s now seven matches without a win for FC Dallas, who finished in a 1-1 tie with the Philadelphia Union (watch the highlights here).

FCD didn’t appreciate the physical nature of the match, including a tackle which took Hernán Pertúz out of the game, and captain Daniel Hernandez did not hold back from letting the refs know it: “It’s the same old, same old with the refs – getting in guys faces, talking trash to the players, not pulling out their cards when they should,” he said. “We’re talking about a team that is getting bad officiating at home, just can’t get any calls our way. By no means is it the refs’ fault that we tied the game, but at a certain point they have take a responsibility in doing their job just like we do ours.”

How exactly did Crew goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum stop the MLS Golden Boot leader from scoring on that PK? MLS ‘keepers take note: “I just dove and made myself big,” Gruenebaum said. “I started to over-dive it, but I just stacked the pads and made the stop.”

Nothing to get mad about at D.C. United these days. Dwayne De Rosario scored another two goals against a former club and Hamdi Salihi was back on the board in a 3-1 win over Toronto FC, who are now 0-9-0 (watch the highlights). United’s Andy Najar also earned his manager’s praise: “It’s been a year or two since I’ve seen Andy consistently playing with the hunger I see right now,” Ben Olsen said. “The plays he was making on their defenders were pretty fun to watch.”

Given the tendencies of US-based soccer media, you’d figure that DeRo will be in the running for Player of the Week honors with Sporting Kansas City’s Teal Bunbury, who scored an early brace in Colorado. The Rapids battled back for a 2-2 tie (watch the highlights here), but the start didn’t please manager Oscar Pareja: “What happened in the first 15 minutes is unacceptable for us as professionals. Our fans deserve [more], it's not fair for them.”

Ex-Colorado and Kansas City player Herculez Gomez didn’t see the field yesterday, but Santos Laguna still did the business without him, taking a 2-1 result in the Mexican final second leg to win their fourth Mexican league title. (VIDEO)

Staying in Europe, Juventus were looking to wrap up a perfect season without a single defeat in domestic league and cup play. But they’d receive a surprise against Napoli in the final of the Coppa Italia. (VIDEO)

Check out all the photos from the double-decker bus parade after Chelsea’s historic victory in the UEFA Champions League final over Bayern Munich. Chelsea are set to play four matches in the USA this summer between the AT&T MLS All-Star Game and World Football Challenge. (PHOTOS)